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The Farnsworth Effect
The Farnsworth Effect is the name given by Hubert J. Farnsworth to a method of time travel discovered by him involving Head Jars that allows for people to temporarily travel back in time to the era of when the head in question was originally alive. Context The Heads in Jars are kept alive by a unique form of powdered crystaline opal that according to Farnsworth has "unique temporal properties". The prescense of the opal suspends the heads in a time stasis bubble that allows the heads to remain eternally youthful at a certain point when they existed in the past. If someone consumes the jar fluid surrounding one of the heads, they and anyone standing within a few feet from them are sent back in time to the era in which that person's head was alive. The people sent back mysteriously have their clothing altered to match the normal wear of the era, which allows them to mostly blend in with others in that time period. Depending on the concentration of opal in the jar and the amount of fluid consumed, the trip can last as short as a few seconds and as long as twenty-four hours. The latter was seen when Farnsworth dumped the world's entire supply of opal into George Washington's Head Jar. After the trip ends, the people are sent back to their own time with their own clothing on them once again. Under normal circumstances, if nothing is done during the trips that severely alters the past, then no temporal paradox occurrs. However, if something is done that alters the past severely and is not corrected before the trip ends, the people on the trip are sent back to their time, but with their memories altered to the point where they appear to be merged with their counterparts that grew up in the new altered time. Even though they still have all their old memories from before time was altered, they end up picking up the speech and mannerisms of the new timeline as if they had been living in it their entire lives. Even so, they don't appear to know everything about their new lives. Such was seen after Fry's actions inadvertingly led to the British defeating the Patriots in the American Revolution and gaining permanent control over the Americas. The Planet Express crew had new clothing and mannerisms and were entirely aware of it, yet were unable to speak like their old selves. They also were unaware of the reason for the change until it was pointed out to them, and Farnsworth was unaware he had massive land holdings or that he was supposed to act as the Queen of England's consort. History During the events of All the Presidents' Heads, Fry reluctantly threw a party after the Heads at the Head Museum were bored and wanted some excitement. During the party, Zoidberg started conversing with Lyndon B. Johnson's head and eventually started drinking his jar fluid in an attempt to get drunk. Amy and Farnsworth grabbed Zoidberg to stop him, but once they did, the three of them were briefly sent back to the 1960's where Zoidberg had a brief conversation with Andy Warhol before they were sent back to the future. Fry decided to lick Herbert Hoover's Head and this breifly sent him, Leela, Hermes, and Bender back to the 1920's to a speakeasy when prohibition was still active before they returned to the future. Farnsworth afterwards supected that what they experienced must have had something to do with the jar fluid and sniffed some to verify. He then asked Dr. Cahill if the jar fluid contained opal, and she explained that opal indeed helped to keep the heads alive. Farnsworth then explained that this allowed them to actually be sent back in time, and called this new discovery The Farthsworth Effect. However Goerge Washington's head reminded him that even such a discovery couldn't wipe out the actions of his traitorous ancestor David Farnsworth. To clean his family tree, Farnsworth poured the world's entire supply of the crystaline opal into Washington's head and began to lick the fluid. Fry, Leela, and Bender ran over to stop him, but ended up being transported back along with him. The four were sent back to April 15, 1775 with Farnsworth suspecting they had no more than 24 hours to stop David Farnsworth. Eventually, they found David Farnsworth and stopped him by knocking him out and burning his currency with a lantern. However, Fry took a lantern from a church that served as an important signal to Paul Revere. He was to ride out and warn of the British attack, with one lantern indicating an attack by land and two indicating an attack by sea. With the other lantern missing, Revere began shouting out the wrong message. Leela remarked that they had to stop him, but at that moment their trip ended and they were sent back to the future. However, history had severely changed with America being under control of Britian for 1400 years, as the wrong message sent by Revere caused the Redcoats to suprise the Patriots and brought a premature end to the war. Also David Farnsworth killed George Washington leading him to becoming a duke and being granted several massive land holding in the colonies that Huebert now owned. Despite their boring new lives, Farnsworth was ready to give up saying it was okay living under the crown and that even if they wanted to go back, they couldn't since there was no more powdered opal. However, the Queen of England soon arrived and came onto Farnsworth, mentioning that a member of the Farnsworth family had acted as the Queen's consort for centuries. Just then, Farnsworth noticed the crystalize opal in her crown and ran out of his esate with Fry, Leela, and Bender back to the Head Museum. Since there was no former US President Heads anymore, they instead crushed the opal into David Farnsworth's head and went back again, managing to set everything right again while still stopping Farnsworth. Afterwards, the only noticable abnormality was an image of Bender on an old flag. Category:Time Travelers Category:Science Category:Scientific Theories Category:Heads